Last week, we started a new series of messages called "Back to the Basics." During the months of July and August, we’ll be going back to the basics of the Christian faith, exploring what it is we believe about foundational topics such as God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the Church, and the Christian lifestyle.
During these "Back to the Basics" sermons, we’re revisiting the foundational principles of the Christian faith, refreshing our knowledge of these core beliefs at the same time as we build a strong foundation on which a strong faith can be built.
Now, last Sunday, we started at the obvious beginning place when we dealt with the question, "who is God?" We identified some of the central images and names we have for God, as well as some of the key characteristics of who God truly is.
But we realize that Christianity is not unique in this regard. The other great monotheistic faiths, Judaism and Islam, would agree with much of what I said last week. A faithful Jew would agree that Yahweh is the soverign creator of all the universe, as well as creator of you and I. A faithful Muslim would agree that Allah hears our needs and knows our troubles and responds to them with love and compassion. Believers of other faiths would agree that God teaches us the way to live and guides our path.
Where we as Christians differ with other faiths is in Jesus Christ. We believe Jesus Christ is unique in his divinity and we believe he is unique in his humanity. So for the second in this "Back to the Basics" series, we are taking a look at what Christians believe about Jesus Christ.
But what is it that makes Jesus different for Christians? Jesus of Nazareth was a Jewish man who lived nearly two thousand years ago in the area around Jerusalem until he met his end when he was crucified on a cross at the hands of the Romans. Only the most skeptical of historians could disagree with that. But at the same time, thousands of Jewish men who lived in the same area as Jesus during that same time period were also crucified by the Romans. What is it that makes Jesus of Nazareth different than any of them? What makes Jesus so influential that we would call him Christ? Why was Jesus so important that we literally started time over again, resetting the calendar itself and declaring that all events would be measured based on the date of his birth? Why do millions of people still celebrate the birthdate of Jesus in Bethlehem each December 25th? What made Jesus so special?
To answer this question, we will take a look at what Jesus said about himself and what others said about him. Two names for Jesus are seen again and again throughout the New Testament of the Bible. Son of God appears 74 times and Son of Man appears 81 times. Of course, these aren’t the only names given to Jesus, but they do appear the most often, and they do seem to capture the essential nature of who Jesus was and what made him so special. And they are both names that Jesus uses for himself and names that others use to refer to Jesus as well.
It’s interesting, I picked the songs for today before writing the sermon, but they capture these two identities of Jesus as Son of God and Son of Man perfectly. Moments ago, we sang, "Crown Him with Many Crowns," which is about the exaltation and magnificence of the triumphant Jesus Christ. Jesus is clearly seen as Son of God who is the crowned king seated "upon his throne," who "triumphed over the grave and rose victorious," and whose "praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity." Moments from now, we will sing one of the most beloved hymns of all time, "In the Garden," where we relate to Jesus as Son of Man by connecting to him at a very personal level. We sing of Jesus’ "voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing" and "through the voice of woe, his voice to me is calling" as Jesus "tells me I am his own." Yet both of these names are important – Son of Man and Son of God.
Jesus is the Son of God. It’s this identity that makes him so unique. Jesus didn’t just know about God in a special way. Jesus didn’t just have a special closeness to God. Jesus didn’t just represent God or teach a message of God. Jesus was God’s Son. Jesus is God’s Son. And this works both ways. Jesus the human being is the divine and all-powerful God. And the living God is uniquely and personally present in the human Jesus.
Bible scholars believe the very oldest part of the New Testament is Philippians 2:1-11. When Paul included this section in his letter to the church in Philippi, scholars believe he was quoting from a hymn that was sung by the very earliest followers of Jesus. In the hymn, it says Jesus, "though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross."
In the hymn, it says Jesus was both the form of God and the form of humanity, having emptied out his divinity so that he could take on human flesh. There’s a book in the church office I’ve mentioned before – it’s called "When God Left Footsteps," and this is exactly what that title is talking about. God living among us as one of us. God walking among us in the person of Jesus Christ. God breathing and speaking and laughing and weeping as one of us.
And because of this, it turns our ideas of who God is completely around. Usually, when people ask the question, "Is Jesus God?" they begin with the assumption that they know who God is, and then they wonder, "Can you fit Jesus into your God-picture?" As Christians, we answer the question, "Is Jesus God?" by saying, we don’t 100% know exactly who God is, but we can certainly discover who God is by looking at Jesus. The God we worship is fully present in Jesus Christ, and through Him, we can discover who God is and what God is like.
[Video (“What Does God Look Like” from sermonspice.com]
Jesus is also known as the Son of Man. In fact, this is probably the name he used most often to refer to himself. When Jesus talked about himself and what he was doing on this earth, he talked about himself as the “Son of Man”.
Now, we just talked about how Son of God means that Jesus is the image of God, how he is the child of God who reveals the true character of God by his own presence in the world. So, if Son of God means we are able to see God, what do you think the Son of Man would mean?
Well, it would stand to reason that if the Son of God revealed the true nature of God that the Son of Man would reveal the true nature of humanity, wouldn’t it? And that’s exactly what Jesus did, as the Son of Man, he revealed to us what being human is really all about.
Now, I know that we’re all used to seeing human beings running around in the world. Unlike God, being human is not a mystery to us. We know what it’s like to be a human being and we know how other humans look, behave, feel, think, and interact. We know what it means to be human.
But here’s what was special about the way Jesus was human: as the Son of Man, Jesus showed us not just what human beings are like, he showed us what human beings are meant to be like. As the Son of Man, he is the image of what God intended for humanity.
You see, when we’re honest with ourselves, we know that we really don’t live the lives God intended for us. We do things that hurt other people. We do things that hurt ourselves. We have immoral thoughts and desires. We desire people, money, and power more than we desire God. We are broken people who live entangled in sin and broken relationships. We are not free. We are caught in our problems and life is often painful instead of joyful. We are alienated from God. We are alienated from one another. We don’t really live the lives God intended for us.
But Jesus did. Jesus did live the life God intended. He lived with love and generosity and daring and joy. He touched the untouchables, he challenged people both powerful and powerless to live by God’s standards, he taught and healed and loved people, he loved even to death, and he led others to God through the life he lived. He lived life the way it was meant to be lived: full of love and compassion, passionate about God’s law and inviting others to do the same. He was fully human, the way human was meant to be.
And in that he showed us what kind of relationship we were meant to have with God. As the Son of God and the Son of Man, Jesus walked this earth teaching people the truth about the God that seeks us and loves us and expects us to follow his ways. He challenged both rich and poor to align their values with God’s, he welcomed the strangers and the outcasts, he healed the sick, and he worshipped and prayed and “never turned his eyes away from God” .
We thought we knew what human beings were meant to be like, until we met him. And he showed us a whole different way of being human. One with a deep, abiding, personal relationship with God. One that stood against evil and temptation in every form. One that loved generously, without counting the cost. One that gave himself freely for the sake of others so that God might be known among us. It was a life that had freedom.
As the Son of Man, Jesus showed us the life God intended for us. And there people were many people who were drawn to him because of it. And there were many people who were deeply afraid of him because of it.
There’s a story that Jesus was walking along one day when he and his followers came upon a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus spit on the ground and made a mud paste and rubbed it on the man’s eyes and then told him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. And the man went and washed, and he came back seeing!
When he returned, a great controversy broke out over him. At first, people argued about whether it was the same man who had been blind at all, but then, when he declared that Jesus had healed him, the controversy turned to who Jesus really was and whether he could truly be from God.
The man was brought before the religious authorities and questioned about Jesus and how he had been healed. When the man told his story, the religious authorities all began to argue. Some said, “he cannot be from God, because he did this work on the Sabbath, the day of rest.” But others said, “but how could an ordinary sinner do such a miraculous thing?” And they were divided among themselves: Some being drawn to his extraordinary power, and others being deeply suspicious of him.
Finally, the man reminded them that God listens to those that do his will and that Jesus did, in fact, have the power to heal blindness (a power even Moses never had). And in response, the religious authorities kicked him out of the synagogue.
Jesus, you see, has that kind of effect on people. Some part of us is always drawn to him, and some part of us is always afraid of him. We deeply desire the life he offers us (that is, the life God intended for us) but we also know he is calling us into places we’ve never imagined and don’t understand, calling us away from the things we’ve trusted to place our trust in him and that’s scary.
And it’s that part of us that doesn’t understand him and that’s afraid of him, that strung him up on the cross. He came to show us the truth about God and the truth about ourselves, and we nailed him to a cross for it.
And it was on that cross that he suffered and died, not for the sins that were his own, but for our sins. And he made that path through his death for us to become the people God created us to be, people free from sin, people free to be who God intends for us to be and able to have a close, personal relationship with God. He set us free, as the Son of Man, the one who was truly, fully human, to be as whole as he was.
So, we’ve talked about 3 important things about Jesus so far today:
That Jesus is the Son of God, that he reveals to us who God is.
And that he is the Son of Man, that he shows us what God intended for human beings to be like.
And that Jesus died for our sins and through his death and resurrection Jesus made a way for us to have that close, personal relationship with God and be free from our sin.
If you know only three things about Jesus, those are three good things to know!
But the important part is not that you just know those things, but that you know what difference that makes in your own life. Knowing who Jesus is is only useful to us if we are using that knowledge as a guide for our own lives.
I said earlier that our beliefs about Jesus is one of the main things that sets Christians apart from everybody else. But it’s not just that Christians know who Jesus is and everybody else doesn’t. What sets Christians apart is that we believe who Jesus is is really important. We believe it matters that he lived and died and was raised from the dead. It matters so much, in fact, that my entire life, as a Christian, is based on who this Jesus is.
I live my life based on my belief that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for my sins. What does that mean?
Well, first, that means that I believe what he says and I follow his words. If he speaks for God, then I trust him. Even when it’s hard and I don’t see how it can work, I trust what he says.
And, if he shows me what life is really meant to be like, then I’m also going to do my best to be like him to the best of my ability.
When we become Christians, we take Christ’s name on to ourselves. We are adopted into God’s family. And, as the family of God, just like Jesus the Son reflects God the Father, we, by our actions, try to reflect Jesus in our lives. We seek to be worthy to bear the name Christian. When we call ourselves Christian, the way we act reflects on Jesus. Our behavior imitates that of Jesus, just as he reveals God.
If that sounds like a high calling, and it is, remember that that is the life that we were created for and it is the life that enables us to come close to God. Our actions should reflect who Jesus is and what he’s about both because we trust him and because it’s the best, most fulfilling way to live life.
It’s a decision to be on God’s side and to believe that Jesus shows us exactly what that means.
I said that our belief in Jesus means that we believe what he says and we follow his words. Believing him also means that we believe that he is the path to wholeness and healing, the way to experience the forgiveness of all our sin and failures, the path to freedom and abundant life now and eternal life with God to come. Believing in him means believing he has the power to give us those things and then living as though he has.
The Christian life is a life lived believing that Jesus has made us whole, has forgiven all our sins, and has provided abundant and eternal life for his followers now and forever. It is believing that he is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
If you have never made that decision to trust Jesus, to trust what he says and follow his words, to believe that he can save you from sin and death, and to believe that he is the very Son of God who lived and died for us, I invite you to take this opportunity today, right now, to make that decision. If you have never placed your faith in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, now is the time to do that. I invite you, in Jesus name, to become one of his followers, to take the name Christian for yourself, and know that intimate relationship with God that only he can provide.
Would you pray with me:
We thank you, God, for the many ways you are active in our world today. We especially thank you for the way you showed yourself in Jesus Christ. O Lord, we ask that you would draw near to us now and touch our lives. Forgive the times when we have turned away from you and lived our lives apart from you. Forgive us for the times we have put ourselves in first place and forgotten the needs of our neighbor. We know we’re not perfect, and we know we can’t become perfect by our own power. So, Lord, we eagerly embrace the forgiveness your Son Jesus provided for us through his death on the cross. And we place our full trust in the abundant life Jesus offers through his resurrection. Help us believe in Jesus with our hearts and minds and live for Jesus by following the path he laid out for us. Fill us with your love that we might become examples of your grace in this world and be people who draw others into your healing love. We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
